Monday, January 25, 2010

Many people hate to see the number on the scale, but coin collectors know better. If you have a coin collection, you know that a coin scale is a great way to verify the authenticity of the coins you are selling and buying.

Even if you’ve had experience with coin scales in the past, you still might be impressed with some of the modern options. For example, pocket scales are called so called because they literally fit in your pocket—most are about the size of a checkbook.

Other features to look for:

Easy to read LCD display

Elegant stainless steel surface

Modes to measure ounces, grams, carat, grain, and taring

A wide scale of measurement from 0.01 of a gram to 100 grams or more

Plus, if you’re interested in splitting the expense or just sharing the love, pocket scales are great for a number of other uses, like weighing gemstones or even calculating postage price.

That being said, pocket scales are extremely affordable at coin collecting supply websites like www.CoinSupplyExpress.com. One popular model, the 250 gram pocket scale from American Weight, is only $22.02.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

We’re sure that your coin collection has a great personal and historical value. We’re also sure that you’ll do anything possible in order to keep your precious collection in the best shape possible, right? Well, if you are starting out collecting coins, and don’t exactly know how to take care of your collection, here are a few pointers to help you out!

First and foremost – don’t clean your coins! Yup. You heard us right. Cleaning your coins is not a good idea. You actually want to avoid even getting to the point where the coins are dirty, because frankly, coins, especially copper ones, just don't like liquids.

So you need to make sure that your coins will not get dirty and you should do so by keeping them in an album! Not your local Walmart $1.99 photography album of course. You need a special coin collection album made of quality plastic that is chemical free and will not damage your coins on the long run. There are many types of albums available and one of the most popular brands are the Dansco coin albums, which been around since 1937. Now that’s a name you can trust.

Once your coin finds its place in the album, you should never touch it again. I know. Heartbreaking. But your fingers are oily and can damage the coins. If you really must clean your coin collection, consider talking to a professional.

Please Share Our Work

All information on this blog has been compiled and written by John A. Lenertz of Coin Supply Express. Permission is granted to publish or display any of this text with following conditions: (1) each article segment must be published in its entirety and its content, including links and references, may not be edited or altered without specific permission from the author; (2) credit must be attributed to John A. Lenertz and Coin Supply Express on each page in which any part of the article is displayed.